NNWY
by Angelou Lloron
Summary: A RWBY AU fanfic. What if Neo was with Roman from the in the pilot? How might the events of RWBY have unfolded? Canon changes: Blake stay with Adam and Ilia. NB: There's gonna be shipping, new teams, and alterations to both the story and the characters in various aspects (e.g. semblance, personality, backstories, etc).
1. Brunswick Trailer

_**Author's Note**_

Alright, Let Papa Angie tell you a story

Thank you FireKitty55 for the review and encouragement to continue, let's see how far we get with this. I also see that my mess of a first upload has been followed by a few, so let me do a little justice to you guys who read all that. You shall be the chosen few who know a bit of the story I have planned. Please do give criticism where necessary so I can make this a loving retelling of RWBY. This fandom, though with its issues, is one I'm proud to be a part of and want to do right by Monty's (RIP) story for all those who knew the story as he did.

That's said, ARE YA READY KIDS?!

* * *

 _ **Brunswick Trailer**_

* * *

 _"Everyone has something they hold dear, something they never want to lose. That's why they pretend. That's why they hide the truth and that's why they lie."_

* * *

"C'mon Neo, we need these goons for the next robbery."

I faked a pout. _Am I not good enough?_

Roman chuckled at that. "Well, clearly the boss lady can't tell a crook from a real-life Bunny and Tyde duo, so we'll have to make do with what we've got."

 _Remind me why we're working with her? _Honestly, we might as well be working for her, but Roman's the brains of this duo, so I don't question.

"Because her people with are planning on bringing a hurricane, and I'd honestly stay safe in the with eye with them."

 _Even if that means..._

He patted my head as reassurance. "Their Grimm won't lay a finger on us, and the ones we left outside Argus... They'll stay there..." He didn't seem convinced by himself either, but our worries were interrupted by loud electronic music.

"Well, here we are. No time for melancholy; smile and wave."

I let out an exasperated sigh, but still complied, taking ear plugs out my pocket to keep my hearing. Wouldn't be of much use if I end up mute _and_ deaf.

The club's disco lights were the first thing to annoy me. I liked the simple black, white, and red, but the lights were slow giving me a headache. The booming music did nothing to stop that. There were goons in black and red suits and random citizens everywhere, and as we approached the bar, the numbers only multiplied. To fit in a little better, I materialized a uniform like the that of the goons, down to the shades and hat. I even made my hair black.

"And here I was hoping for peace and quiet." The club's manager, Junior muttered.

"And your prayers shall you be answered if you would hear the word of the lord." Roman smirked, leaning against the bar.

I giggled at his joke, before going to sit behind them and have a drink. The bartender came by and just stared at me, curiously.

 _Any ice cream?_

He cocked an eyebrow with a look of amusement, "I'll ask the boss to put it on the menu once he's done with whoever your brought in."

 _Anything sweet?_

"Irish Coffee?"

 _How do we have coffee but not ice cream?_ I deadpanned.

The bartender held his hands up in defence. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just here for drunk dancing and EDM."

I giggled a little.

"And here I thought you didn't have a voice."

 _I sometimes forget I have one._

"Why not use it?"

 _Coffee first. I've been here all day. _I lied.

He chuckled and started making my drink.

I rested my head on the bar counter, watching Roman work his silver tongue on Junior before turning to the rest of the club.

"One Irish coffee. That'll cost you 50 Lien and an explanation." The bartender tapped my arm.

I sat up and pointed to a goon at the entrance. _He owes me money, so just send the bill to him._

"Didn't realise you knew Spruce."

 _He's the one who go me this job. Today's my first day and I already need a drink_. I took my Irish coffee and took a big swing.

"If you're not a club person, why'd you take the job?"

 _I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed and there ain't nothin' in this world for free._

He chuckled. "Ain't no rest for the wicked."

 _That's the truth if I've ever heard it._ I looked back to Roman who was waiting for me with cocked eyebrow, crossed arms and his tapping. I downed the rest of my drink before getting up. _I better escort Torchwick out to make sure he doesn't do anything. See you around._

"What's your name?"

"Hey, could I get a Strawberry Sunshine. No ice. Oh! And one of those cute umbrellas." A bimbo in brown ordered.

With someone to keep him busy in my place, I started walking out with Roman.

"What's with the suit?" He asked as we headed for the doors.

 _You like it? The bartender bought my disguise._

He chuckled and patted my head.

"Not bad, kid, Not bad at all."


	2. Flame Trailer

_**Flame Trailer**_

* * *

 _"Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one-sided, and easily processed. Yet every misshaped spark's beauty is greater that it's would be judgement."_

* * *

"Pyrrha, I'm so proud of you!" Father hugged me tightly in excitement. I hugged her back and smiled.

"Thank you."

"I'm sure you're going to do great at Beacon! I'm sure you'll even make some friends."

"I… I'm not so sure about that."

"Oh, come _on_ , I doubt _everyone's_ heard of you. Besides, there isn't going to be any special treatment, just like you've always wanted."

I sighed. "And if I don't make friends?"

"Since when did I raise you to be so negative?" He held my chin in his hand and faced me directly to him. "You _will_ make friends."

"Thanks, Dad." I smiled lightly.

"Peleus, could I have a word with our daughter?" Mother stood in the door frame.

"Of course, Nereid." Father patted my head and messed my hair a little before leaving, kissing Mother's cheek on the way out.

"Are you prepared for today's spar?" She ignored the topic of Beacon completely.

"Don't you have anything else to say about my acceptance into Beacon?"

"Excuse me?" She raised an eyebrow, showing the bare minimal amount of surprise.

"This is what I've been working towards my whole life, aren't you the least bit proud of what I've accomplished?"

"Your decision of attending Beacon deliberately went against my wishes."

"I don't want go to Atlas Academy!"

"Then there is nothing more to discuss about the matter."

"Mother!"

"Pyrrha," Her tone grew cold, "there is _nothing_ more to discuss."

I quickly averted my gaze. "Yes, mother." I yielded under my breath.

"Good. Now, are you prepared for today's spar or not?"

"I am."

I drew Miló and Akoúo as I marched into the arena.

The commentator's mic echoed past the arena and into the outer city. "Ladies and Gentlemen. The finale of this year's Mistral regional tournament is finally upon us and we have a returning three-time champion going up against a crowd favourite! Pyrrha Nikos versus Sun Wukong!"

The crowd roared around me as I looked to my opponent.

"Hey." He smiled. A blonde monkey faunus with a tail. He seemed to have four shotguns from what I could see. A ranged fighter, perhaps?

"Hello." I smiled in return.

"Begin!" The commentator announced, and I immediately fired Miló at him as I closed the distance between us. He drew his shotguns to form one staff, slapped Miló into the ground and thrust the staff straight at me. I slid under it and between his legs before pushing back on one leg to ram into him. As I grabbed Miló, he used the momentum from my earlier push to break into a series of rolls, finishing with a front flip. Apparently slightly impressed, Sun gave a slight nod with a small 'Hm'.

He collapsed his staff into two nunchucks and stood ready.

 _Gun nunchucks._ I corrected my former assumptions about his weapon. Short range is his strong point. I kept Miló in javelin form and tried maintaining mid-range for the javelin form to be effective. He easily bypassed the javelin and got in close, so I retracted Miló into its Xiphos form and rammed myself head into his onslaught of shotgun rounds and nunchucks with Akoúo. It threw him off, giving me a quick chance to strike back, constant switching between using Miló's Xiphos and rifle forms to keep toe to toe with his nunchucks. Just before he could start pushing back, I slammed the edge of Akoúo into his side, brought Miló's rifle to his chin, and fired, before kicking him away back. I took the chance to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. So far, short-range is fairly even, and we've both given up on mid-range.

I threw Akoúo at him, allowing him to catch it, before sending a barrage of shots from Miló's rifle. He used Akoúo to block, subsequent blocking his vision. I started running towards him, masking my footsteps with gunshots. When I got in close, I jumped onto Akoúo and launched myself as high as I could into the air. He threw Akoúo aside began spinning his nunchucks, firing rapidly in the process. I used my polarity to make it seem as though Akoúo bounced off the ground and up towards me. I caught Akoúo swiftly, blocked the gunshots, before spinning horizontally, aiming to slash him with Miló's spear on the descent. Sun prepared to hit me as I landed. I briefly held Akoúo in place with my polarity to jump off it and closed the distance with a gunshot-enhanced lunging stab, knocking him off hit feet.

"And with that, Sun Wukong's Aura enters the red, making Pyrrha Nikos, the winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row!"

I sighed with relief and walked to Sun to help him up.

"You really gave me a run for my money." He smiled.

"As did you." I returned his friendliness.

I looked around the audience for my father and saw that he was brimming with excitement, jumping up and down on his seat.

I smiled and waved at him… then deflated as saw my stoic mother next to him.

I sighed again.

Not out of relief this time, but out of frustration


	3. Snow Trailer

_**Snow Trailer: White Trailer Revised**_

* * *

 _"Perfection is a tantamount to despair. Aspire to reach greater levels of brilliance than ever before, but never, NEVER, to reach perfection."_

* * *

I readied myself by adjusting her hair and walked to our courtyard's centre with Myrtenaster griped firmly. As I reached the centre of our courtyard, a storm slowly starts to form around her. Slowly white Beowolves started to form in the storm and circled me, one behind her me already pouncing. I turned and gasped in surprise, but swiftly impaled it on Myrtenaster. As it faded, three more slowly approached from behind and charged. I dashed forward, dismembering the three as I passed them with swift slashes.

Myrtenaster's chamber and I drew flames across the blade to incinerate three approaching Beowolves that dissipated the storm. I smiled to myself, admiring my rapier but was interrupted – and caught off guard – by more Beowolves coming out. I drew a deep breath and regained my composure before using a black glyph to propel myself toward one of her approaching foes. The Beowolf tries to attack but got swiftly bisected. Another approached, granting itself six rapid thrusts from Myrtenaster before as I turned my attention to the next one that soon lost its right arm, swiftly followed by its left and finally its head, all through twirling motions.

I dismembered another six more by charging and bisecting the first one that charged at me, bisected the second by conjuring a glyph with enough force to send me several meters up in the air and a second glyph to propel herself to bisect the third one, sever the arm of the fourth one and kill the last two with swift decapitations. The fourth one recoiled from the loss of its arm, allowing me to finish it off by speeding myself up with glyphs and stabbing it in the chest. I threw my rapier into another approaching Beowolf before picking it up mid-air and conjuring ice to impale another five more. As I steading my breath, gusts of snow suddenly caught me off guard, throwing Myrtenaster out of reach and knocking me off my feet. I held the back of my head that slammed against the stone floor but was distracting from the pain by a pouncing Beowulf which barely managed to hold off with her hand. I panicked as six more appeared and tried to converge on me.

"Winter!" I called out, unable to think of anything else

The Beowolves dissipate into the storm as they landed, and I head approaching steps as I got only my knees.

As I looked up to see my sister, she threw Myrtenaster into the ground.

The disappointment melted as she sighed. "I'm not always going to be around to save you, Weiss."

I averted my gaze in disappointment. "I'm sorry. I'll get better."

She slowly started walking off. "You'll have to if you ever want to leave."

I looked at my knees, disappointed with myself before grabbing Myrtenaster to help myself stand up.

"Wait!"

Winter stopped at the main entrance to the Schnee Manor and looked back, an eyebrow raised.

"Again."

"Excuse me?" She turned to face me fully, confused.

"Resummon the beowolves and let me fight again."


	4. Golden Trailer

**_Gold Trailer: Yellow Trailer Revised_**

* * *

 _"Ever since that day, I've been having these dreams, again and again. Unshakeable terror. Repeated frustrations. Days of remorse and penitence that continue on within my dreams. As I try to stand still, waiting for it to pass, still unable to keep from trembling, I wake up, and without finding my answers, once again, today, I remain in the bad dream."_

* * *

Ruby fell on her ass again. "Ow."

"Come _on_. You totally could've dodged that." I chuckled, offering her a hand up.

"Yang! I've already told you; I'm just not cut out for hand-to-hand." Ruby whined. "Why can't I just use my beautiful Crescent Rose?"

"That's exactly why I wouldn't let you bring it."

Ruby groaned.

"I'm gonna be leaving for Beacon soon. I wanna make sure my little sis can hold her own while I'm gone." I rest on hand on her shoulder and gave her a small pat before getting into stance.

"Fine." Ruby sulked.

I barely gave her time to get into her own stance, let alone block as I landed the first punch, forcing Ruby to block with her wrist. She ducked under the second punch, and then sidestepped the third. I spun around 180 degrees to keep the punch going, forcing Ruby to shuffle back with her arms outstretched to avoid it, then duck under an airborne high kick. Just as Ruby finally got time to ready her stance, I wasted no time restarting a new punch spree. Two punch, Ruby blocked it with her forearms, the third, she sidestepped again.

Ruby when for a punch of her own, only for me to casually tilt my head to dodge it. A quick leg sweep with my left leg tripped Ruby, and as she fell to the ground, I would've landed a nice right hook if she hadn't used her Semblance to speeds away into the trees.

I laughed a little "Nice one, sis! You're not always going to be able to run away from your problems, though. Sometimes, you just have to stand your ground and fight, no matter what." I waited a few seconds to listen for movement. "Alright, enough rest! Get back out here."

When I heard rustling in the bushing, I raised my hand just over my eyes to try spot Ruby. "Ruby?"

Instead, the was a threatening growl and red marks glowing. "Ruby!"

The Ursa charged from out the bushes with a roar. I immediately activated Ember Celica and fired a round to propel myself towards the Grimm. I broke into a running after jumping out from a roll. I fired a round from my left gauntlet, using the momentum to move myself right and dodge the Ursa's left swipe. I only managed to land three quick punches to the Ursa's leg, with the third getting another roar and a reactive swipe that send me tumbling back before I could get in a fourth punch. I managed to flip back upright and slows her momentum by planting my leg on firmly the ground, before firing two more rounds, which arc towards the Ursa, forcing it to go back down to all fours, roaring and charging again.

I grit my teeth as I stands my ground under the Ursa's overhead swipe and landed an uppercut to the it's chin, quickly propelling myself up to get in an airborne kick on the Ursa's chest, before landing. I propelling myself forward to slide under the Ursa's belly, firing six more shots from behind, that only turned the Grimm around and made it angrier, so I fired behind me to propel myself towards it again. I landing a hard right hook to the Ursa's left jaw, forcing it to wince in pain, before hit the head right again with a second left hook, using the momentum to move to its left. I blocked and grabbed a right swipe from behind, twisted it and punches the Ursa with another right hook, sending it back. I quickly slid under a low left swipe, before propelling myself underneath the Ursa again to dodge the right swipe, finishing the slide with a cartwheel. As the Ursa turned around with another swipe, I launched myself upwards, then fired another round to spin into a left tornado kick, which knocked the Ursa's head right. Before the Grimm pin me down with both paws, I propels myself backwards, and I launched myself forwards for a left hook, only to be swat away into the ground on her back and crashing into the trees, effectively knocking me out.

 _I remembered the long winding path through the towering trees shedding their leaves in the autumn storm. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. I kept walking, dragging Ruby in the wagon behind me. The further I went, the slower I walked, eventually trudging along as I shivered._

 _I heard Ruby sneeze and glanced behind me._

 _She wrapped the cloak Summer gave her around herself, half-asleep and turned to her other side, before going back to her peaceful sleep._

 _"Don't worry Rubes, we're almost there."_

 _I must've walked for hours. before we finally got there._

 _I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. After months of obsessing over my mother, I have finally found a clue and made to this worn-down house the picture had described on the back. But then I heard growling and saw them. Those burning red eyes glowing from the darkness…_

 _A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted and terrified to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter._

"Yang!" Just as the Beowolves attacked – before our Uncle could save us – I was woken up by Ruby shouting.

Without thinking, I activated my Semblance launched myself to the direction of the Ruby's shout to find the Ursa turning around to see me. I quickly meet its paw with a punch, the clash blowing several trees and Ruby back. With the sound of the Ursa's arm snapping, I was thrown past the Ursa, and I caught a glimpse of it disintegrating before I crashes against another tree.

"Yang!" Ruby runs over to her sister with worry. "Yang, are you okay? Oh, I didn't know how to help without my scythe! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay…" I took a small breath before continuing. "I've always got your back, sis."

We smiled at each other before Ruby hugged me.

As the memories of that night flashed in my head again, my smile turned sour and I hugged ruby tightly.

"I'm so sorry..."


	5. Volume 1 Chapter 1: Crook Amongst Heroes

_**Volume 1**_

* * *

 _"Perhaps the companionship_ _of an evil person is_ _preferable to loneliness_ _."_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Crook Amongst Heroes**_

* * *

 ** _Neo's POV_**

* * *

"C'mon Neo, let's get this over and done with." Roman called for me, taking my attention away from the ice cream store.

I pointed to the soft serve machine.

"Dust first, then you can do what you want."

I nodded, handing him my umbrella.

I slipped into a disguise with my semblance and skipped into the Dust 'Til Dawn. Advantage of being so young is that it's easy to get away with murder.

I went to the back for a magazine to read while scanned for cameras. There was a girl my age in a black long-sleeved dress, a red hood, and headphones on reading a weapons magazine, so I grabbed the same one.

The girl seemed to take note, removing her headphones and taking off her hood. Silver eyes… weird.

"You're into weapons too?" She asked.

I smiled and nodded.

"OH MY GOSH! THANK YOU! My sister always calls me a nerd for liking weapons but they're just so cool, how could anyone not love them?" She talks too much.

I smiled and nodded politely, occasionally using my scroll to communicate any thoughts. As she rambled on about her scythe and flaming swords, I casually stole glances around the store to find any cameras.

 _None, good._

I interrupted her, indicating to her that I had to leave.

"It was nice meeting you. I'm Ruby."

 _I'm Morgan._ I typed on my scroll.

"Morgan? That's a cool name."

 _It's short for morganite, like the gem._

"That's awesome! Obviously, I'm name after rubies."

 _*inserts sarcastic tone* REALLY? I would've NEVER guessed!_

"Oh shush! Alright, bye Morgan!"

 _Bye Ruby._

The girl put her headphones back on and went back to reading the magazine.

I walked out and into the alleyway next the store.

"And?" He asked, handing me back my umbrella.

I made an x with my arms, signalling that there were none.

"Well then, boys," he looked back to the goons behind him smirked, "let's get to business."

He started walking, when I stopped him, pointing to his cane, Melodic Cudgel.

"You wanna switch for today?"

I nodded.

"Fine, I'll play the criminal Mary Robins." He grinned, handing me his cane and held my umbrella firmly. He to the looked the goons who seemed confused. "What are you looking at? Get on with it." He shooed them, quickly giving me a wink before following after them. I took off the disguise and started playing with Melodic Cudgel as I walked behind everyone.

The robbery was going routinely, Roman running his mouth with the clerk as we stole dust, until one of the goons crashed into the wall. The cause? That Ruby girl. She dropkicked another goon out the window before drawing her scythe gun.

 _How'd I miss that? She even talked about it!_

Before we knew it, she had thrashed the rest of goons and it was just Roman and I facing her down.

She looked at me funny for a bit, before Roman interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, Red. As much fun as this was, unfortunately this is where we part ways. Neo." I smirked and bowed courteously, before firing a white flare from Melodic Cudgel. She launched herself into the air with her scythe gun's recoil and launched herself into my tangible illusion. Hehe, sucker.

Roman and I got into the roof of the closest buildings and waited for Cinder to pick us up.

"Hey!" Ruby called behind us.

"Persistent." He took a fire dust crystal that he had taken from himself and threw it as her, prompting me to first at it. The explosion, however, was block by a blonde huntress with a riding crop dressed like a stereotypical teacher. Cinder came to our rescues and we managed to board the airship while the smoke from the explosion cleared, but the huntress summoned several streaks of purple to strike our airship. Roman and I stumbled into the cockpit.

"We've got a huntress." Roman shouted.

Cinder swapped positions with him and proceeds to the back, dragging me with her.

"Make yourself useful!" She ordered.

The Huntress created a circular storm cloud out of a glyph above the Bullhead and, with a flick of her crop, hailed down ice shards onto the ship. Cinder and I got to the airship's doorway, and Cinder created a flame on her hand and causing the elaborate designs on the arms and chest of her dress to glow. She fired a burst of fire at the huntress, supported by a few red flares from Melodic Cudgel. The Huntress blocked, but the flames splattered behind her as a liquid and exploded as Cinder raised her hand. The huntress backflipped out of the explosion and, through a series of hand gestures, gathered the shards of broken material to create a large arrow and launches it at use.

Cinder disrupted the arrow with several fiery blasts, but it reformed, into four tendrils, two strike for the airship itself, throwing me off balance, and the other two for us. Cinder avoided the debris, but I got yanked out the airship, crashing next to Ruby. The red hood held me down with her scythe and stepped on my arms, so I changed into the Morgan disguise to throw her off.

"Morgan?" Her ever so brief recoil let me lift her off of me and grab Melodic Cudgel and fire at the Huntress' back. Letting Roman and Cinder get away.

"Hello, young lady." I was greeting by a bespectacled old man wearing different shades of green in the interrogation room.

I lazily saluted.

"Quite the colour scheme choice." He smiled, earning him a quick colour show as I changed my eye colours, before resting on brown and brown.

"So, what drives an ice-cream like yourself to work with a criminal like Roman Torchwick."

I shrugged. _Does he really think I'd rat out Roman?_

"Just on a whim?"

I thought about my answer, before simply nodding.

"And how has the criminal lifestyle treated you thus far?"

I motioned to the room.

"Then why continue?"

I shrugged again.

"What is your connection with Roman Torchwick?"

I shrugged a third time, getting a sighed out of the old man.

"What would you say if I could give you a clean slate?"

Ï motioned for him to elaborate.

"Do you know who I am?"

Shook my head.

"I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy,"

 _Crap…_ I bit my lip.

"What would you say if I let you come to my school, under supervision of course, and have you pardoned of any previous affiliations with Roman Torchwick."

I motioned for something to write with. He took out his scroll and handed it to me.

Idiot.

 _What's in it for me?_ I typed.

"You get all your possessions back, you get free accommodation, food, etcetera."

In all honesty, it was a tempting offer, but Roman's safety was more important than anything. Besides, he's not exactly great with my umbrella.

I covered the back of the scroll and quickly sent the safe word to one of Roman's more permanent goons before deleting the conversation and number off of Ozpin's scroll and writing a list of demands.

 _Demands:_

 _Firstly, I can go into town whenever I please, even if it has to be supervised._

 _Secondly, I want new clothes and all my old stuff. Especially my scroll. Its redundant, but I need the reassurance._

 _Thirdly, I want some Neopolitan ice cream._

The headmaster looked at the third demand incredulously before chuckling.

"Can I have my own demands?"

 _Depends on the demands._

"You will take the initiation, attend classes, wear uniform, and join a team like every other student at Beacon."

I facepalmed. _Fine, Deal._

After Ozpin organized everything for both our demands to be met, I waited outside the main hall for the first years to arrive. There were kids who seemed to be from both inside and outside of the kingdom. A lot of them had their weapons on them, and many were Faunus. I soon spotted Ruby and sighed. I got up and went to greet her, waiting for the bimbo in yellow and brown to leave before approaching.

"You!" Ruby was quick to draw her scythe.

I put a finger over my lips as I took out my scroll.

 _Calm down, I'm now a student. Headmaster enrolled me in exchange for me cutting ties with Roman._

That didn't convince her much.

 _Do you wanna punch me or something as pay back for doing my job?_

"How can I trust you?"

 _Look, I made this choice to keep anything from happening to Roman. At least keep my affiliations with him a secret. If not for me, then for the headmaster._

She was extremely hesitant. "Fine…" She reluctantly put away her scythe.

 _Thank you. _And with that done, I spun on my heel and started walking off, pocketing my scroll.

"Wait!"

I stopped and looked back at her, slightly irritated.

"I-I don't know where to go." She admitted sheepishly.

I motioned for her to follow me.

"What's your actually name?"

I showed her the branding of my name on the right side of my neck, pulling down my collar without missing a step.

We walked into the main hall and sat on the floor in the front, sitting in silence. Bored, I took my scroll and started playing sudoku while Ruby started watching video on hers.

A few minutes later, the rest of the first years started flooding in.

* * *

 ** _Yang's POV_**

* * *

"Ruby!" I finally saw Ruby in the crowd and called out to her.

"Yang!" I chuckled. Ruby's sounded like a baby crying her mom.

"See? You're still in one…" I trailed off when I notice the girl behind Ruby and did a double take. She wore a pink and frilled dress shirt, a cream waistcoat with chocolate brown stripes, cream coloured slacks and brown boots with pink laces, trim, and soles. Her pink and brown hair was tied back into a ponytail under a cream coloured bowler hat with a pink strip.

She took out her scroll and started typing.

"Yang, this is girl I talked about, but apparently Ozpin enrolled her here, so I don't think we can do anything to her." Ruby explained.

She handed us her scroll. _Look, I'm not here to cause trouble. Only reason I'm here is because your sister interrupted one of my jobs and I wanted to keep Roman out of trouble. If you don't trust me, fine. You can expect me to stay till Roman comes to pick me up somehow._

I eyed her carefully. "Then what? You go back to helping him?"

She shrugged. _He's all I've got._

The mic on stage was turned on and Oz cleared his throat into it to get people's attention.

"I'll keep this brief. I stand before now as the headmaster of a school once built to train the next generation of Huntsman and Huntresses, but as the world has evolved, so to have this school. I stand before you now, as a man who, having seen humanity at its worst, strives to bring out the best I can out of students and prepare them for the worst. I, however, cannot do all the heavy lifting. It is up to each and every one of you to _be_ exemplary huntsmen and huntresses so as to both take and pass on the torch generations of humans have kept alive with pride."

Both Ruby and I looked at the girl while Ozpin gave his speech.

Ozpin's deputy, Glynda Goodwitch, stepped to the mic. "You will all gather in the barn tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready."

The girl typed out a message on my scroll, passed it to me and walked off.

 _You heard the man, enjoy playing hero._

"Neo." Said girl ignored me as she went into the girls' bathroom.

I quickly grabbed my toiletry bag and went in after her, sitting her scroll and my stuff next hers before taking my toothbrush and toothpaste out.

Neo started changed into a white t-shirt and brown shorts.

"What's your favourite ice flavour?" I broke the unappreciated silence.

She just looked at me for a moment before smirking, taking her my scroll and typed.

 _Me and Mint Chocolate._

I snorted. "Figures, though Mint is surprising. Is that your natural hair?"

 _Miraculously, yes._

"Hey Sis." Ruby trudged in, dosing off faster by the second.

"Hey, Sleepy-red." I chuckled at my sister's drowsiness and my own pun.

Neo waved, but Ruby seemed more focused on not passing out on the sink.

"Just brush your teeth in the morning sis, it's already eleven-thirty."

"Mom always… to brush… before we sleep." Ruby mumbled.

My heart twinged at the mention of Summer, but I keep a straight face as I picked up my little sister and carried her off. "I'm sure mom would let it slide once."

"Nooo… must… teeth…"

I smiled sadly as I planted a kiss on her head. "Shh… tomorrow." I quickly looked back at the thief in the bathroom. "G'nite Neo."

As I walked out, I noticed a dude in a blue onesie hitting on some white-haired girl in a blue nightgown near where Ruby and I had put our blow-up beds.

"Sorry, but could you love birds take this outside, my sister and I kinda wanna hit the hay early."

"Excuse me?" The girl rolled her eyes.

The blond, on the other hand, switched targets. "Ooh, hey hot stuff. Is that your natural hair?"

"That's a pickup line if I've ever heard one…" I muttered sarcastically, "yeah, what of it?"

"I guess that's something we've got in common." He smirked.

I snorted. _Might as well humour him._ "Look, Lady Killer, as head over heels as I am, I really should put my little sis to bed."

"Oh right, sorry." He smiled awkwardly.

I noticed the white-haired priss walking off. "Glad he's found someone else to pester." She said to herself.

I shifted Ruby a bit before taking her to the mattress and tucking her in comfortably.

"Isn't she a little young to be attending Beacon?" The Blond asked from behind me.

"1: never stand behind a girl you just met, it sends red flags flaring," I warned, prompting him to quickly shuffle backwards, "And 2: That's why I'm so proud of her." I finished, smiling as I brushed some hair out of the weapon dork's face.

The blond let out a kinda down-and-out sighed. "Must be nice."

"Mm?"

"Getting into Beacon early."

"She's not too thrill about it, but I think it'll be good for her."

"How so?"

"Eh, it's fine, don't worry about it." I ignored his question, but actually looked at him properly this time, judging him and bit. "What's your family like?"

"Um… 7 sisters. 5 older, 2 younger ones."

"Would you mind a third younger sister?"

"I began your pardon?"

I nodded to Ruby. "She's better with Grimm than she is when people. Just keep an eye on her for me, will you? I can't always be her nagging sister tryna play mom all the time."

"Oh, sure." He smiled.

"Thanks." I nodded, a bit of relief off of my chest. "So, what's the deal with the snowflake that left you?"

"What?!" He looked frantically around him and saw her climb into bed. He deflated with a sigh, letting out a slight 'whiny-dog' sound with it. "That's Weiss Schnee for ya."

"Wait, you _know_ her?"

He looked at me as if I just bad mouth Ozpin or something. "You _don't?_ That's _Weiss Schnee!_ "

"Ooooh… never heard of her."

He deadpanned. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company doesn't ring a bell?"

"Nope. I know the SDC though."

He sighed. "Well, I'm Jaune Arc, by the way."

"Yang Xiao Long." I responded, getting ready to climb in bed.

He lit up once I was looking at him from under my cover and put on his 'suave' voice.

"May I join you?"

I snorted. "Nice try, vomit boy." The blonde deflated quickly. "I'll give you some brownie points."

"At least." He shrugged. "Well then, Little Sun. Let me leave you to set upon this day. I bid you and your sister, a good night."

I snorted. He's goofy, but he comes up with some decent lines.


	6. Volume 1 Chapter 2: Gambling with Chess

_**Author's Note:**_

Hey guys, another chapter up. I really wanted to start tweaking the characters' personalities from the get-go, so let me know what you guys think and where I can improve. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Key:**_

 _'Thoughts'_

 _'Neo's Typing'_

"Speech"

* * *

 ** _Volume 1, Chapter 2: Gambling with Chess_**

* * *

 ** _Weiss's POV:_**

* * *

"Who on earth is snoring like that?!" I roused quite reluctantly. I looked up to see the little girl the bimbo was carrying last night slobbering all over herself.

 _'Might as well be a mutt…'_

I looked at my scroll to see that it was 6:26.

"Might as well start the day." I murmured.

I sat up and stretched, yawning all the while. I noticed Pyrrha Nikos had just come back from a morning run, I assumed, and reconfirmed my mission to be on a team with her.

The bimbo from last night was with her laughing. "Well I mean, Ruby snores, so I end up getting up early whether I want to or not. Speaking of which, I should actually probably wake her up, if she's not up by now then she forgot to set her alarm. Nice meeting you Pyrrha."

"The pleasure was all mine, Yang. Good luck for initiation today." Pyrrha nodded.

"You too!"

With my goal present, I quickly went about my morning rituals so as to ensure I was presentable for the day. I stepped into the communal bathrooms and took the liberty to enjoy my shower a bit.

I sighed, allowing the hot water to ease some of the tension in my muscles.

 _'Not quite the showers back home, but anything is better than that_ _prison.'_

Grabbing my shampoo and conditioner, I massaged my head a bit before washing the rest of my hair and rinsing out it all out. After drying off and dressing up, I walked back to my bed to pack up. I then went back to the bathrooms and began combing through my hair in front of the mirrors, finding Pyrrha doing the same.

"Long hair, am I right?" I smiled.

She gave me an exasperated sigh. "I'm honestly considering cutting it one of these days."

"I think it gives you a befitting sense of elegance."

"If anyone's elegant, it's you, Ms Schnee." She laughed.

 _'Of course, the name always precedes me.'_

"Oh stop."

"My father actually took me to your concerts. I don't think I've heard a stronger voice."

"Well thank you, though I still think you're far more elegant than I am. The way you move in combat is as seamless as a dancer."

"Why thank you, I–"

"Oh my gosh, Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee!" A girl came up to us.

"Hello." I smiled, despite being somewhat bothered by her interrupting our conversation.

"Are you prepared for initiation?" Pyrrha asked.

"I hope so. I've been training so hard." The girl answered rather timidly.

"If you've put in the work then, then you should trust your capabilities a bit more. A good huntress always trusts herself." I tried encouraging the girl.

"That's easy for you to say, you've got the name to back you up." The girl stared down at her feet.

 _'I am going to freeze the next person that mentions my family with an entire briefcase of ice dust.'_

I was ready to respond politely in spite of my rising anger, but Pyrrha responded first.

"That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell just as sweet."

Both the girl and I looked at the huntress. The girl with what seemed some form of blind bewilderment, me, on the other hand, with a curiosity.

"In any case, we'd better head to the locker rooms for final preparations. See you at initiation?"

"You're right. Hopefully, we end up if the same team!" And with that, the girl left.

Pyrrha then turned to me, but I was still registering her comment.

"Shall we?"

That snapped out of my thoughts and I resolved to a smile. "After you."

* * *

"So, Pyrrha, I didn't get the opportunity to ask earlier, but have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be clamouring to unite with such Well-renowned fighter like yourself."

I noticed the Spartan seems a tad bothered by that but quickly covered any visible signs of it. "Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well... I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

"I'd be honoured."

"Well then I hope, come what may, we end up on the same team."

"Speaking of teams," That dolt from last night inserted himself between Pyrrha and me, "I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?

I planted my face on my hand and took a long breath, "You again?"

"I'm glad you remember me, snow angel. I think is a good time to properly introduce myself. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

Pyrrha stayed polite. "Nice to meet you, Jaune!"

"Yeah, yeah." The blonde rudely dismissed her. "So, Weiss, what do you say? You up for a power couple?"

 _'I think I'll content with freezing this microcephalic adipate_.'

Pyrrha once again interjected, seemingly being my saving from losing my cool. "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-"

"You don't say…" Jaune quickly turned to Pyrrha as though advancing on his new target, "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

I had to stop this, so I separated the two. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel." He answered, an idiotic, almost love-struck look on his face.

"This is Pyrrha."

"Hello again." Pyrrha smiled and waved.

I glanced back at her a little concerned. ' _Her kindness is going to be her downfall.'_

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it."

I deadpanned. ' _This guy can't be that oblivious.'_

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!"

"The what?"

I groaned slightly. "She's on the cover of that freaking cereal box!"

Final it struck him as his gasped and looked at Pyrrha in disbelief. "You mean Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes boxes?! That's you?! But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't particularly good for you." She responded sheepishly.

 _'Why are you being sheepish about that?'_

"In any case, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"

Deflated, the blonde hung his head. "I guess not... Sorry..."

"Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." Pyrrha comforted the moron.

Said moron immediately brightening back up. "D'oh, stop it!"

I looked at Pyrrha incredulously. " _Seriously_. _Please_ , stop. This kind of behaviour should not be encouraged!"

"Sounds like Pyrrha's onboard for Team Jaune." Jaune turned his sights back to me, getting closer and closer with the more he spoke. "Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

"All right, that's close enough! Pyrrha, a little help, please?!"

Jaune looked back just in time to see Pyrrha's javelin strike him, sending the idiot flying into one of the lockers behind him.

"I'm sorry!"

I was about to tell Pyrrha that she should feel the need to apologise when the intercom system turned on.

Professor Goodwitch's voice filled the building. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

 _'Finally.'_

"Shall we?" I asked Pyrrha, passing Jaune on the way out.

Pyrrha sighed and followed, grabbing her spear and dropping Jaune to the ground. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Jaune replied with a defeated sigh.

"Why did you feel the need to encourage him?"

"We're all here because of our achievements, there's nothing wrong with all little encourage. He seems like he needs the confidence."

"What he _needs_ is a lesson on how to speak to women."

"I'd say he's doing alright. He's certainly the only person here that's actually spoken to me without referring to my reputation."

It had suddenly occurred to me that I'd been a hypocrite.

* * *

 ** _Pyrrha's POV:_**

* * *

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your skills shall be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Professor Ozpin opened as we all stood on the platforms.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams," Ms Goodwitch started, "well, allow me to put an end to your confusion: each of you will be assigned to your respective teams. _Today._ "

Yang's little sister whined at that.

"These teammates," the headmaster continued, "will be with for the rest of your time here at Beacon Academy, so it be best if you team up with those with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next 4 years."

"WHAT?" the hooded girl cried. I smiled sadly. A bit young, like Yang had said.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way; do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you _will_ die. You will be monitored and grade for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will guard that item as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Jaune raised his hand, but the headmaster ignored him. "Good. Prepare for launch."

I took a deep breath and focused on planning my landing strategy, effectively tuning out Jaune's question.  
' _I could surf on Akoúo, but that's a tad too flaunting. I don't need to show off my semblance, considering I stand out as is. Maybe I could just–'_

Before I could finish thinking, I was launched and just setting on my interrupted second thought.

With Miló as a Xiphos and Akoúo in front of me, I crashed through several trees and rolls on a branch large and secure enough, immediately shifting Miló into her rifle and scoping my surroundings. I found Jaune screaming and falling helplessly, so I quickly switch to Miló's Javelin form, took a moment to aim, and rockets the javelin deep into the forest in Jaunes direction.

In the distance, not too far from my position, I could hear a loud THUNK.

"Thank you!" Jaune should

I shouted back, "I'm sorry", before making my way down to find him and Miló.

As I made my way through the forest, I noticed growling not too far from me.

 _Jaune or Beowolves? Well, they seem to be on the way to where Jaune is, so I may as well just see if anyone has engaged and need help._

In a clearing somewhat nearby, I saw Weiss deflecting a swipe from a Beowolf with her rapier and getting pushed back into the middle of the beastly circle. She held out her rapier I took a breath.

I threw Akoúo straight for the Beowolf that Weiss had fended off before used my polarity to make the shield seemingly bounce off a tree and return to me.

"Need a hand?" I smiled, quickly making it to Weiss' side by using one of the Beowolves.

"Much obliged," Weiss smirked, slashing at the air in font her to send a wave of fire through a large fraction of the Beowolves.

"I'll watch your back since I don't have my weapon with me, you'll have to deal the blows," I said slapping away a Beowulf that just launched itself as us with Akoúo.

"Consider you decapitated one of them with your shield, I'm sure you can still help with attacking." We were standing back to back, but I think I could hear the smirk in her voice.

I smiled despite the horde of Beowolves. "We'll have to see about that." I rammed myself and Akoúo into the nearest Beowolf, sending it staggering back before throw the shield to decapitate another Beowolf in Weiss' blind spot. I jumped onto the Beowolf in front of me and used it at a launched pad to dive for Akoúo before landing.

"Pyrrha, duck!" Weiss commanded and I obliged, narrowing dodging an arc of Ice that cleaved through three Beowolves behind me.

We reconvened in the centre of the Grimm.

"Any ideas?" Weiss asked.

"Do you trust me?"

"I suppose I'll have to." The Heiress responded cautiously.

"Can you send a massive barrage of ice crystals on my signal?"

Weiss scoffed. "Can I?"

I half smiled at her reassuring confidence and jumped into the air, using my semblance to hold Akoúo in the air under my feet. I then grabbed Weiss' arm and used what strength I could muster to throw her into the air.

"Now!" I said, climbing under Akoúo and struggled to hold myself up while keeping my semblance activated on my shield.

The next thing I knew Ice rained down like hail, stabbing through the remaining Beowolves. When the coast what clear and Weiss had land, I carefully release my semblance and land on my feet.

"How did you..." Weiss asked, half dumbfounded, half confused.

"My semblance is polarity. I generally prefer to use it in subtler ways, but I don't have my spear with me, so I had to improvise."

"Well, it saved us nonetheless. Let's get going and find your spear."

"It should be just ahead," I said continuing on my original route.

"Why did you throw your spear this way anyways?" Weiss queried.

"I used it to help Jaune land safely."

I could tell Weiss wanted to question that choice but held her peace.

We traversed our way through the forest and found Ruby with Jaune.

"Ladies." Jaune bowed with a smiled, Miló held out for me.

I returned the smile as I reclaimed my weapon. "Thank you, Jaune."

"I see you two are eager to cash in on the offer to be on Team Jaune."

"Hey, why do you get to be the leader?" Ruby protested. "Team Ruby sounds a lot better than Team Jaune."

Weiss planted her face in her palm with an irritated sigh. "Children...!"

"I believe we have more pressing matter at hand." I half-announced as politely as I could, effectively ending their argument.

"Right, sorry." Ruby laughed awkwardly.

"Have you guys managed to locate the forest temple?" I queried.

"There's a cave off in the distance that might be it." The girl pointed behind her.

Jaune began walking off in the direction Ruby pointed. "Allow me to lead the way, Ladies

"Hey, wait up!" Ruby dash to his, leaving tail of rose petal in her wake.

 _'_ _Speed?'_ I asked myself as I followed the pair.

Weiss seemed content remaining in agitated silence as we followed, speaking only to shot down Jaune's further advances.

When reached the cave, we tried to peer inside, but couldn't see much.

"Anyone got a torch?" Jaune suggested.

Weiss wordlessly spun the revolver barrel on her rapier and a flame lit the blade's tip.

"That's so cool!" Ruby squealed, awestruck by the rapier.

The heiress didn't smile, but she seemed to release some of her annoyance go. "I'll show you how it works after initiation. For now, let's see if the cave is anything important."

"Right!" Rugby smiled and drew her sniper.

"Alright, let's see." Weiss and Ruby led the way together, leaving me with Jaune.

"So, Pyrrha what brings you to Beacon?"

I was somewhat surprised by normality in his voice. "Let's just say Vale is more peaceful than home."

"What do you mean?"

"Mistral's wealth of diversity leads to a very loud and busy lifestyle. Vale is a lot quieter in comparison."

"Huh, never thought of what the other kingdoms are like. I've kinda always been in Vale. My one sister moved to Argus, but I've never to the other kingdoms myself."

"I've been fortunate to have been around all four kingdoms."

"Must have been awesome t–"

"Guys, what is that?" Ruby interrupted our conversations, turning out attention to a glowing object in the distant.

"That's gotta be the relic!" Jaune went ahead of us to go grab it and missed. He went to grab it again missed again.

' _Wait, he's not missing it...'_

"C'mon...! Stupid relics...!"

"Jaune... I don't think..." Ruby slowly made her way to her partner, but froze when he caught it.

"Yes!" Jaune cheered, but his joy was undercut as his feet left the group.

Soon, it wasn't just the 'relic' that glowed. Swirling lines decorated five sets of eyes as well as the darkness behind and the sound of skittering followed.

Jaune shrieked as we all realised what he was holding onto... a Death Stalker.

I could Ruby was about to burst forwards to try to save her friend, but as soon as he let go, the stinger he had been holding onto grabbed him by the hood of his hoodie.

"RUN!" Weiss shouted to Ruby.

"But..." Ruby was scared, but hesitated, her eyes never leaving Jaune.

"Ruby, you're not a Faunus!"

"But Jaune's..."

"We'll help him OUTSIDE, you dolt!"

"FINE!" She turned on her heel and burst out the cave.

Weiss and I followed as fast as we could, with giant Grimm and a screaming Jaune close behind. We followed Ruby's trail of rose petals and by the time we got into the clearing, Ruby was already in one of the trees, aiming her sniper into the cage behind us.

"MOVE!" She ordered and we quickly obliged as the Death Stalker broke through the face entrance. Not even a second of aiming later and she shot out 2 of its eyes. The creature screeched and writhed about, effectively catapulting Jaune into the distance.

"Jaune!"

"Ruby, go find Jaune, we'll find a way to deal with the Death Stalker!"

"But!"

"No buts, just GO!"

With that, Ruby vanished into the forest while Weiss stormed off in the other direction.

I made my way to my partner's side. "What's the plan?"

"Running obviously."

"But, you just..."

"She's not ready for this. You saw her hesitate in there, she needs to have a victory today and she has a better shot saving Jaune than dealing with this Death Stalker."

Noticing my confused silence, she added, "She reminded me of myself and my older sister, okay. I know what it's like having a hard time dealing with Grimm. My sister tried to prepare me, but I still panicked the first day I had to fight an Ursa."

I smiled. "Well, I guess we're running, then."

* * *

 ** _Neo's POV:_**

* * *

 _'_ _How much longer 'til I get there? There only living things I've seen are Grimm and they don't count.'_ I whined to myself.

I was, however, corrected when the sound of Ursa growling and guns firing seemed not too far from where I was, so I decided to get myself a partner.

 _'_ _Never mind, I guess.'_

"YOU MONSTER!" I recognized that my partner as Yang, who was giving the Ursa in front her a flurry of rage-filled, shotgun-enhanced punches. After finally sending it flying through a tree, she turned to the other Ursa, her hair seemingly burning.

"What? You want some too?!" She screamed at it, getting a growl in return.

I slammed Melodic Cudgel's base into the ground, causing the cane to fire and propel itself rapidly towards the Ursa, hitting it full speed in the head and soaring back into my grip, so I could take aim and blow the grim's head off. I smirked and teasingly bowed at the bimbo.

Yang took a deep breath, extinguished her burning hair and returning her eyes from red to lilac. "I could've taken him."

I rolled my eyes. _'Well, let's get going, partner.'_ I pointed into the initial direction I was headed, and we started in said direction. I then took out my scroll, and quickly typed.

 _A few rules of thumb._

 _When I want your attention, I'll clap twice._

 _My arms crossed in front of me, either means no or defend if my hands are in fists._

 _Slicing motions with my hands mean to cut something._

 _Cracking my knuckles means I gonna hit something._

 _Got it?_

"Think so," Yang said, re-reading the list quickly.

I put my scroll away, clapped twice and pointed ahead. What I presumed to be the temple was at the bottom of the hill.

"Think this is it?"

I shrugged, before motioning for her to follow as I slid down the hill. At the temple, there were chess pieces on small pedestals. Yang and I looked at each other in confusion.

"Some of them are missing. Guess we're not the first here."

I clapped twice and motioned for her to take a piece.

"Why not a cute little pony?"

I facepalmed. ' _That's called a knight, you idiot._ '

"What?"

I shook my head and gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright, well, should we wait for teammates or head out?"

"Yee-ha!" Y'know, I've never thought it possible to ride an Ursa, but this ginger proved me wrong. She killed it her hammer and was oddly sad about that fact.  
"It's broken…" She pouted before seeing the relics.

"Ooh," She quickly took a white rook as started singing. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

"Nora!" A boy in green shouted for her.

"Coming Ren!" The ginger saluted before merrily skipping to the boy.

Yang and I looked at each other with the same look but were quickly interrupted by Weiss and Pyrrha running from a deathstalker. We immediately ran to help, both Yang and I firing dust rounds at the Deathstalker, successfully stopping it as it waved its pinchers around, trying to defend itself.

"Any ideas?" Weiss looked to us as we distracted it.

"Grab a relic and let's get out of here!" Yang ordered. Pyrrha blindly grabbed a black knight before we all broke off running, trying to keep the Deathstalker from catching us. With headed to the cliff and found Ruby and Jaune at another abandoned ruin, hiding from the Nevermore circling the bridge.

"Guys, we've got a deathstalker on our tail!" Yang shouted.

"Well, you're gonna have to figure out how to get past that Nevermore!" Jaune point at the giant Grimm above use.

The Nevermore screeched at us and let loose its giant feathers. We all just managed to dodge, but the Deathstalker ran for us. I used my semblance to keep it running for the ruins while we ran the other way. It crashed into the ruins, unfortunately blowing our cover from the Nevermore, but temporarily incapacitating the Deathstalker.

"C'mon, let's go!" Jaune called out, but as we made our way to the bridge, the Nevermore flew down to block our path, perched on a tower and sending a flurry of feather down at us.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered his partner.

"Yang, help her out!" Pyrrha added.

The blonde used her gauntlets to propel herself atop one of the pillars and began firing explosive dust rounds, while the ginger took out her weapon – which now seem to be in more compact – and fire pink explosives at the Nevermore, sending it retreating back into the air.

 _'_ _Grenade Launcher_ _ **and**_ _hammer. Note to self, never get in a fight with her._ '

Ruby and I went to get the two girls as Weiss and Ren briefly stopped the Deathstalker's pincers. As we made it onto the bridge, I caught glimpses of Ren, Pyrrha, and Weiss trying to slow down the Death Stalker. Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, surprising Jaune, and I were the fastest and were halfway across the bridge when–

"Watch out!"

The Nevermore flew straight into the bridge.

 _'_ _Why is this thing so persistent?'_

 _We've gotta keep the Nevermore busy since the other have the Deathstalker to deal with._ I tossed my scroll to Ruby and began firing rounds at the Nevermore.

' _I hope you like the taste of dust!_ '

"Guys!" Jaune called our attention, point to Ren, Yang and Weiss on the other. "They need our help!"

"Ruby, use your semblance to carry him across, we'll handle this!" Yang ordered.

"Got it!" Ruby, who had landed a fair distance from Jaune, took a running start at the blond.

"What I can't–"

Before Jaune and Ruby dashed across the bridge in a steak of red.

' _What's with the rose petals?_ '

"Neo, focus!" Yang shouted from atop the towering ruins by the bridge and I went to join her and Pyrrha there.

I returned my focus to Nevermore, but before I could continue firing, we saw Weiss jumping from glyph to glyph and landing on the Nevermore. She summoned massive ice crystal and sent them into the Grimm's body. The Nevermore shrieked but there was no visible damage. She soon joined us rather gracefully from our firing point.

"That thing is tougher than you'd expect." Weiss relayed.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Said, Pyrrha her spear to its rifle form.

And with that, we all sent as many dust rounds at the Nevermore we could at the as it approached and the Grimm either dodged or takes harmlessly until it crashes through the columns and platform. I leapt from one section of falling stone to the next and caught glimpses of Weiss using her glyphs to get herself Pyrrha occasionally using her shield as a platform and while Yang shot-gunned herself across. As we landed, the Nevermore circled by the cliff.

"None of this is working!" Yang groaned.

I pulled out my scroll and typed as fast as I could, before throwing it to the blonde.

 _I'll distract the Nevermore since my semblance is illusions. I'll make it crash into the cliff. Weiss, you use ice dust again like you did on its back but go for the wings and keep it grounded. By the time the Nevermore is frozen, Yang and Pyrrha, I want you on top of the cliff. Yang, you're gonna jump off with Pyrrha and use your shot-gauntlets to increase your velocity. Before you crash into the Nevermore, throw Pyrrha into it. Pyrrha, you decapitate it with your spear. Let the other four handle the Nevermore._

As Yang shouted the plan, I got myself up onto one of the few remaining pillars of the ruins and began firing at it, drawing as much attention to myself. As the Nevermore came hurtling towards me, I activated my semblance to make it see me still standing atop the pillar when I had jumped down for dear life. As it crashed into the cliff, I caught a glimpse of Weiss using her glyphs to get Yang and Pyrrha atop the cliff before rushing past me and froze the Nevermore's talons to the ground before it could turn back to us. She then summoned massive ice crystals again and sent them into the Grimm's wings. The Grimm screeched in pain as it retracted its wings towards its body.

' _The wings were bound to be sensitive, especially after shedding a few feathers._ '

I looked to the top of the cliff just in time to see Yang take hold of Pyrrha's arm and dive off the cliff. Yang's shot-gauntlets sent them falling faster and faster, and eventually, Yang threw Pyrrha, who began spinning gracefully as she descended with her spear extending. The Nevermore finally broke out of the ice but was a little late when its head dropped to the floor.

* * *

At the team announcement and naming ceremony, the screen of the auditorium showed each of the profiles of each of the team members the teams lined up on stage. "Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The audience gave another wave of applause as four male students walked up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces filled the screen.

I was sitting the other seven from initiation, next to Yang and Jaune, and played Sudoku on my scroll, bored by the ceremony.

"Jaune Arc. Ruby Rose. Lie Ren. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team ARRN (Aurum)." Amid the clapping, Nora laughed and hugged Ren.

' _The Latin name for gold. Interesting._ '

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

Jaune did a double-take. "Huh? L-Led by...?"

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin smiled at Jaune.

"I didn't see that coming, but at least Ruby's got some friends now," Yang said to me.

"And finally: Miss Neopolitan. Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long," the four of us walked up to the stage, the other three holding their hands behind their back while I rested Roman's cane on my shoulders with my arms dangling, "The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team NNWY (Navy). Led by... Miss Neopolitan!"

If I could speak, I would've screamed something along the lines of. "What?!" but probably with more vulgar language. Weiss was surprised but quickly hid that, while Yang winked at me.

Ozpin, noticing my confusion amid the last round of cheers, almost smirked. "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."

I glared at him.


End file.
